Albemarle Co. (NYSE:ALB) Receives $175.05 Consensus PT from Analysts

Shares of Albemarle Co. (NYSE:ALB) have been assigned a consensus rating of “Hold” from the twenty analysts that are covering the stock, MarketBeat Ratings reports. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have issued a hold rating and ten have given a buy rating to the company. The average 1 year price target among brokers that have issued a report on the stock in the last year is $175.05.

ALB has been the subject of several recent analyst reports. Royal Bank of Canada cut their price objective on shares of Albemarle from $140.00 to $138.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, February 16th. Wells Fargo & Company raised their price target on shares of Albemarle from $135.00 to $145.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, April 11th. Berenberg Bank upgraded shares of Albemarle from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and raised their price target for the stock from $130.00 to $160.00 in a report on Thursday, April 11th. Mizuho cut their target price on Albemarle from $115.00 to $112.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, March 7th. Finally, KeyCorp cut their target price on Albemarle from $178.00 to $159.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, March 7th.

Institutional Trading of Albemarle

Large investors have recently made changes to their positions in the company. Canal Capital Management LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Albemarle by 378.5% in the first quarter. Canal Capital Management LLC now owns 24,342 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock valued at $3,207,000 after acquiring an additional 19,255 shares during the period. United Asset Strategies Inc. boosted its stake in Albemarle by 11.8% during the 1st quarter. United Asset Strategies Inc. now owns 3,669 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock worth $483,000 after purchasing an additional 386 shares during the period. Venturi Wealth Management LLC boosted its stake in Albemarle by 64.9% during the 1st quarter. Venturi Wealth Management LLC now owns 432 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock worth $57,000 after purchasing an additional 170 shares during the period. Legacy Trust boosted its stake in shares of Albemarle by 4.6% during the first quarter. Legacy Trust now owns 34,814 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock worth $4,586,000 after buying an additional 1,530 shares during the period. Finally, Fifth Third Bancorp raised its stake in Albemarle by 1.1% during the 1st quarter. Fifth Third Bancorp now owns 25,066 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock valued at $3,302,000 after acquiring an additional 263 shares during the last quarter. 92.87% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Albemarle Trading Up 1.7 %

ALB opened at $114.17 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.37, a current ratio of 1.47 and a quick ratio of 0.86. The company’s 50 day simple moving average is $122.93 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $128.45. The firm has a market capitalization of $13.42 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 8.56, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.27 and a beta of 1.62. Albemarle has a 1-year low of $106.69 and a 1-year high of $247.44.

Albemarle (NYSE:ALB) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, February 15th. The specialty chemicals company reported $1.85 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.99 by $0.86. The firm had revenue of $2.36 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.18 billion. Albemarle had a return on equity of 26.62% and a net margin of 16.36%. The firm’s revenue was down 10.1% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $8.62 earnings per share. Analysts expect that Albemarle will post 3.09 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Albemarle Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, April 1st. Stockholders of record on Friday, March 15th were issued a $0.40 dividend. This represents a $1.60 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.40%. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, March 14th. Albemarle’s payout ratio is 11.99%.

Albemarle Company Profile

Albemarle Corporation develops, manufactures, and markets engineered specialty chemicals worldwide. It operates through three segments: Energy Storage, Specialties and Ketjen. The Energy Storage segment offers lithium compounds, including lithium carbonate, lithium hydroxide, and lithium chloride; technical services for the handling and use of reactive lithium products; and lithium-containing by-products recycling services.